2023 Adult Summer Reading Program
How to Participate
Printer-Friendly Bingo Sheets
Printer-Friendly Program Brochure
Participants can pick up a Summer Reading Bingo sheet at the Circulation Desk or Information Desk in the library starting June 24.
Finish a “Bingo row’ and get entered into a prize drawing. All participants who finish as least one “Bingo row” get a Prendergast Library tote bag to fill with book sale books.
Complete a whole bingo sheet and get entered into a special prize drawing!
Fun bingo activities:
- Read outside.
- Participate in a library program.
- Try a new recipe.
- Attend a community event.
- Read a book by an NYS author.
- Read a book by an author you haven’t heard of.
- And lots more!
Want to Participate online?
- Create an account on our summer reading website at READsquared or download the app from Apple or Google Play.
- Check off your Bingo Sheet activities online starting June 24.
Prizes:
- The winner of the completed bingo sheet drawing will receive a $50 gift card to Landmark Restaurant.
- Halfway prize drawing: $25 gift card to the Labyrinth Press Company.
Special Programs & Events
Community Block Party & Summer Reading Kick-off
Saturday, June 24: 11:00-2:00
Join us to celebrate the start of Summer Reading at our annual Block Party! Enjoy food, games, crafting, music, prizes, and more.
Jamestown Public Market’s Mobile Market
Wednesdays, June 14-September 28: 11:30-12:30
The Mobile Market will be at the library every Wednesday from 11:30-12:30 with local fruit and veggies. All produce is priced below retail value, and SNAP is accepted.
All Ages Drumming with Infinity
Thursdays, July 6 – August 17: 11:00-12:00
Join us on the library’s front lawn for a drum circle. Drums and other percussion instruments will be provided. You are welcome to bring your drum. No experience is necessary.
Eco-Dyeing Class with Pearl City Clayhouse
Tuesday, July 18: 5:00-7:00
Learn how to create and utilize natural dyes for a beautiful product at this program led by Deb Eck. Registration Required. Registration opens June 16.
Fairy Garden Workshop
Saturday, August 19: 1:00-3:00
Build a magical garden. All materials are provided. Registration required. Registration opens June 16. Please call 716-484-7135 x 226.
Books & Brews @ Brazil
Wednesday, July 12 & August 9: 5:30
Books & Brews is a monthly book club that meets at Brazil (10 E. 4th St, Jamestown) on the second Wednesday of each month. Each month we’ll read a novel and then gather to talk about the book in a fun, casual atmosphere, with discussion led by the library staff.
July’s book: Circe by Madeline Miller
August’s book: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Suggested Book List
Not sure what book to read next? Take a look at our suggested reading list!
Bingo Book Lists
- My Beloved World/Mi Mundo Adorado by Sonya Sotomayor
- Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
- Storyteller by Davd Grohl
- The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek
- Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
- The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
- Wake Up With Purpose!: What I’ve Learned in My First Hundred Years by Sister Jean Delores Schmidt
- Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
- The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women–and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura
- Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life by Alice Wong
- The Color Purple by Alice Walker
- Naked by David Sedaris
- Dreaming in Cuban by Christina Garcia
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
- Native Son by Richard Wright
- The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
- Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
- Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoag (ASD)
- Let’s Pretend This Never happened by Jenny Lawson (Depression)
- Fledgling by Octavia Butler (Dyslexia)
- Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune (ADHD)
- True Biz by Sara Novic (Deaf)
- Hild by Nicola Griffith (MS)
- Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (Autism/Fibromyalgia)
- Sister by A. Manette Ansay (Wheelchair Bound)
- The Grass Harp by Truman Capote (Epilepsy)
- Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges (Blind)
- No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
- Two Sisters Detective Agency by James Patterson
- Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu
- Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- Seven and 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
- The Eight by Katherine Neville
- Ninth House by Leah Bardugo
- The Woman in Cabin Ten by Ruth Ware
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
- The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (South Africa)
- The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami (Japan)
- Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney (Ireland)
- The Silence of the Sea by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (Iceland)
- Love in the Time of Cholera/El Amor en los Tiempos del Colera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Brazil)
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Iran)
- The Bat by Jo Nesbo (Norway)
- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigera)
- The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk (Poland)
- Violeta by Isabel Allende (Chile)
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Sweden)
- The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury (Lebanon/England)
- The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood (Canada)
1930s
- The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
- Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
1940s
- All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
- The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
- The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
1950s
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
- The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
- My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier
1960s
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
- Slaughterhouse- Five by Kurt Vonnegut
1970s
- The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
- Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Persig
- The World According to Garp by John Irving
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
1980s
- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
- Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
- Mists of Avalon by Marion Bradley Zimmer
- Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice
1990s
- Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead
- Babysitter by Joyce Carol Oates
- Ironweed by William Kennedy
- Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry by Mary Higgins Clark
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
- Lone Women by Victor Lavell
- The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
- Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley
- Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
- The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
- A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
- The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
- Wicked Appetite by Janet Evanovich
- Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
- Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
- The Library Book by Susan Orlean
- No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
- The Rosie Project by Graeme C. Simsion
Still looking for another book to read? Fill out our Reader’s Advisory form and a librarian will send you a personalized list of suggested books!